Linux Magazine’s Top 20 Companies to Watch in 2007

We pick the companies that are defining the future of Information Technology and will have the most impact on the Open Enterprises of 2007. It's the inaugural edition of our 20 Companies to Watch list and we guarantee that every company here will challenge how you think about Linux and Open Source before the year is out.

It seems that every visit to Google News yields yet another press release about a startup that’s tackling threat management or cranking out another security appliance, but Astaro is already ahead in the game, thanks to longer experience, a slew of awards, and fairly regular technology upgrades and developments.

Founded in 2000, Astaro has gained an awful lot of momentum in the past few years as security began moving from “good idea” to “omigod, we need to implement something now.” Since 2005, the company has begun to power Novell Security Manager, and introduced products like Astaro Security Linux 2.0, Linux Unified Threat Management, and the Astaro Command Center V1.3, which is designed to centrally manage the company’s gateway appliances. The company has even teamed with Nintendo to equip the browser for the gaming company’s DS and DS Lite with filter technology to protect against inappropriate content.

The development work has gotten recognition from more than users. The Astaro Security Gateway 220 beat out Fortinet and ServGate to be named Editors’ Choice in a 2005 roundup of security appliances by PC Magazine, and the gateway also nabbed the Product Excellence Award for Best Security Solution at the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo that same year. In 2006, the Security Gateway became the first unified threat management product to receive Common Criteria praise, and has been lauded by Network World, SC Magazine, and PC Pro.

Do awards really mean anything, though? Well, just ask an athlete that question. But the fact that Astaro keeps garnering accolades even as the security appliance space grows more crowded says more than a plaque on the wall. And it makes the company’s next directions worth watching, to see if it can keep that winning spirit.